Inspired Soles
Inspired Soles is a podcast that fuels your passion for running and helps you achieve peak performance with every stride. Host Carolyn Coffin talks with industry experts, coaches, Olympians and everyday runners to educate and inspire you to take your running to the next level.
Inspired Soles
64. City Park Runners Owner | Jonathan Torchia
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Jonathan Torchia is one of the most energetic and passionate people you could ever meet, and fortunately for the Winnipeg running community he has directed a large chunk of his energy there. Not only is Jonathan a dedicated runner, he’s also a running store owner, race director, coach, pace bunny and philanthropist. Jonathan has been actively giving back to the Winnipeg running community ever since lacing up his own shoes for the first time in 2008, and now as a brand new co-owner of City Park Runners with his wife, Robyn, he has an even bigger platform to continue spreading the running love to our community and beyond.
In this episode we discuss:
- Jonathan’s foray into running as an overweight ex-football player
- Why he used to tuck himself away on the corner treadmill at the YMCA
- What inspired him to start the Winnipeg Run Club and later the WFPS Run, now celebrating its 10th year
- What he loves so much about coaching and helping others succeed
- How he got cold feet before eventually purchasing City Park Runners this past summer
- The funny story surrounding how he and Carolyn first met and
- A pretty big announcement about them joining forces thru City Park Run Coaching.
By the end of this conversation we think you’ll agree that Jonathan is doing precisely what he’s meant to be doing in this world.
Connect with Jonathan and City Park Runners:
- Jonathan's Instagram: @jtwinnipeg
- City Park Runners website: https://cityparkrunners.com
- City Park Runners Instagram: @cityparkrunnersywg
- City Park Run Coaching website: https://cityparkrunners.com/pages/city-park-run-coaching
- City Park Run Coaching Instagram: @cityparkruncoaching
Connect with Kim & Carolyn:
- Email us with guest ideas: inspiredsolescast@gmail.com
- Inspired Soles Instagram
- Kim's Instagram
- Kim's Facebook
- Kim's website
- Carolyn's Instagram
- Carolyn's Facebook
- Carolyn's website (sign up for her free weekly newsletter on the homepage)
Resources we discussed in the episode:
- Favourite Mantra: Never give up
- Favourite Place to Run: Wellington Crescent in Winnipeg
- Bucket List Race: Boston Marathon
- Favourite Running Movies: Brittany Runs a Marathon; Patriots Day
- Favourite Post Run Indulgence: A solid 15,000 calories of delicious food!
You can help spread the running love! The best way to SUPPORT Inspired Soles is to share your favourite episode(s) with friends, subscribe, or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Connect on Instagram @inspiredsolescast or email guest ideas to inspiredsolescast@gmail.com.
At that time of my life as a paramedic, I was like, oh man, I gotta start thinking about maybe a career change, et cetera. How can I like potentially tie all these passions of mine into a curative package in the sense of the run coaching, the race directing, the run club, the community stuff, et cetera, et cetera?
SPEAKER_03That was Jonathan Torquia, and this is episode 64 of the Inspired Souls Podcast. Hi, I'm Carolyn, and I'm a roadrunner.
SPEAKER_02And I'm Kim, and I'm a trail runner. Welcome to our podcast, where we bring the communities of trail and roadrunning together and explore the parallels between running and life.
SPEAKER_03Jonathan Torquia is one of the most energetic and passionate people you could ever meet. And fortunately for the Winnipeg running community, he's directed a large chunk of his energy there. Not only is Jonathan a dedicated runner, he's also a running store owner, race director, coach, pace bunny, and philanthropist. Jonathan has been actively giving back to the Winnipeg running community ever since lacing up his own shoes for the first time in 2008. And now as a brand new co-owner of City Park Runners with his wife Robin, he has an even bigger platform to continue spreading the running love to our community and beyond. In this episode, we discuss Jonathan's foray into running as an overweight ex-football player, why he used to tuck himself away on the corner treadmill at the YMCA, what inspired him to start the Winnipeg Run Club and later the WFPS run, now celebrating its 10th year, what he loves so much about coaching and helping others succeed, how he got cold feet before eventually purchasing City Park Runners this past summer, the funny story surrounding how the two of us first met, and towards the end, listen up for a pretty big announcement about us joining forces through City Park Run Coaching. We cover a lot of ground in this episode, but by the end, we think you'll agree that Jonathan is doing precisely what he's meant to be doing in this world. And now, please join us in welcoming Jonathan Torquia to the show. So, Jonathan, how are you tonight?
SPEAKER_00I'm doing well, thank you. Um, I really appreciate you guys having me on the show. It's very exciting. I've I've been a listener of your podcast over the last little bit, and uh yeah, pretty uh pretty honored, really, because looking at the lineup of people you've had on your show, it's pretty impressive. So um, yeah, very honored, very pleased to be here.
SPEAKER_02Well, I think it's long overdue to have you on our show. So welcome to the Inspired Souls Podcast. You have been a presence in the Winnipeg running community for a very long time. I've thought about our past guests as we prepared for having you on the show. We've had runners, we've had coaches, we've had race directors, and we've had running store owners. And like check, check, check, check, check, Jonathan Torquia hits all of those boxes. And I think this is gonna be a really awesome conversation. So it's quite interesting that both Carolyn and I know you in different capacities, but what we have in common is that we both, when we moved to Winnipeg, for me it was over six years ago. For Carolina, it was a what three almost three years ago now. The very first place, the very few run club that we visited was the Winnipeg Run Club at the duck pond that was founded by yourself, if I'm not mistaken.
SPEAKER_00Correct.
SPEAKER_02So you definitely have had a hand in building community in Winnipeg. And without further ado, why don't you give us a little bit of a background on yourself? And we understand that you didn't start running until about 10 years ago. So if you can tell us a little bit about how you got into running.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's funny. Uh, not everyone who I just uh, you know, who I've met over the last few years know my my whole story or my life story, and that's with running, my career, and everything I've kind of done in the past. Um and when I say that, everyone over the last say two, three, four, five years who I have met, and this is previous to my my my previous career, people no one really knew I was ever paramedic as my actual career job because I never talked about being a paramedic. I never associated with being a paramedic in the sense of I I I just put my my uniform on for the 12 hours, and outside of the my you know, my 40s on at work, um, I would be living and breathing all these other passions, which were run and run community and you know, like other stuff you said, the coaching, the race directing, the events and run clubs, etc. So no, no one knew my actual identity as a career as a paramedic. So it's kind of funny. Um my alter ego, exactly, right? Like, gosh, I wish I could like be a volunteer race director, and that would be like my job for life. That would be the greatest thing in the world. I mean, it is as a volunteer, but to be paid, you know, like a big six-figure salary, like one of these guys for like Boston or New York or whatever, all that would be a dream. But, anyways, with my history with running and where I was going with all that is I wasn't always a runner in my whole life, like maybe most people would think, because I'm so involved with the run community and running and all this kind of stuff. For me, it only really started when I was about 22. Yeah, it's called 21, 22. I'm 34 currently. Um, and before that, I was I was a football player through high school. I hated running. I would skip out on like the um in gym class, you do like the fitness test where you run laps around the gym, and then you do sit-ups and push-ups and sit and reach. I would like try to like cut the corners and cheat in the running part because I used to actually literally hate running. Um, in football, we would have to do it um as like a punishment form, like doing man makers and that kind of stuff. I was a big guy too. I was I weighed about 225 pounds. So after high school, my football days were done. I was like, you know what, I'm not gonna make it pro anymore in football in my own little world. So I was like, you know what, I gotta make some life changes. And between cleaning up my diet and readjusting that part of my life, I could remember the exact same treadmill at the YMCA and West Portage Avenue that I would go on every single day or like five days in a row or seven, whatever. And I would slog along on the treadmill. And I'm and I'm kidding you not, a 225-pound guy on my stature of five foot six, I was I was pretty overweight and I was pretty heavy. But, anyways, I was able to just slowly chip away at it. And what started off as like, you know, a four mile per hour on the treadmill for 15 minutes where I would be exhausted at the end. Fast forward one whole year of just total consistency and not knowing at all what I was doing. There was no social media, there was no Facebook, there were no running groups, there was no um check your Instagram stories for a run coach in LA, what they're doing. There's none of that stuff. So, anyways, fast forward about a year, like I said, and I think I lost about 40 pounds. And by the end of it, I was able to run pretty consistently for an hour, hour and a half, fast forward a little more time, some more weight came off, and I got down to about 165 pounds in a healthy manner. And I ran my first half marathon at the Manitoba half in 2010. My time was 137.43.
SPEAKER_01Whoa.
SPEAKER_00And at the time, I had no idea, like that's a pretty respectable time, like a very good time.
SPEAKER_01Respectable time, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And obviously at the time I had no idea. I was like wearing big baggy blue Adidas track shorts and oversized, like cotton shirt, and like these like hideous earbud phone things over my head. I was just like total, like I don't know what I was doing or how to dress or anything, totally a rookie at this running thing, but I fell in love with it. And that is what enabled me to just have this deep passion to see what it did for myself and how it truly shaped and changed my life. And um, I'm just so forever thankful that I I I literally stumbled upon the running thing, and it is really the root and foundation of who I am today, you know, 10, 12 years later kind of thing. You know, it's just I in my own little world, it's pretty remarkable in the sense that like I want to be able to barely run a mile without exhausting myself to, you know, I've done dozens of marathons, I've done an Iron Man, I've run a hundred miles in 24 hours on a treadmill, I've done these pretty cool um races and different events all across the world. And um yeah, I just and to see the journey that it's led me on to coaching and run clubs and helping others succeed and set goals, it's been just a really cool thing to come together and then tie in the race director part and watching other people get to celebrate the start line, the finish line, knowing the journey that I took and the journey that they're currently on. So it kind of ties together really nice. But anyway, that's a really long-winded story um of how I started running.
SPEAKER_02But actually, I think it's a really succinct summary of a whole lot of stories.
SPEAKER_03Totally. And and we're gonna obviously get into how it's changed your life and and shaped who you are going forward. But I'm gonna just push back on a on a couple of things that you said. So you're like, I had no idea what I was doing, I was wearing all the wrong stuff, didn't know what I was doing. But the one thing as a coach myself that you did do so well that I just harp on and on and on about with people is you were consistent. And that is probably the most important thing. Who cares what you're wearing? Who cares what your headphones look like? You showed up every day and you ran the miles, it sounds like. And I really think people underestimate the amount that they can reap from just that consistency piece. So, what are your thoughts on that part of it now, reflecting back?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I mean, a hundred percent, you're right. I mean, at the end of the day, who cares what you're wearing? Who cares how fast, so self-proclaim fast you think you are, or self-proclaimed slow you think you are? And in my I'm the exact same wavelength as you there, Caroline, with preaching consistency. You have to be consistent, you have to keep putting the time and keep putting the miles in, and like hard work and consistency pays off. It always does.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, more than anything else. Um, I I totally agree with you on that. And it's funny because, like, I again, I'm a brand new runner, and the reason why, and backstory behind the reason why I always went to the YMCA and I was always on the same treadmill, I had a lot of self-confidence issues and self-esteem issues. I didn't want to run outside because I didn't want the judgment or the fear of not fitting in, or the fear of, oh, this guy looks like you know he's really overweight and doesn't know what he's doing or whatever. Like that that's that was a real thing for me. And the one treadmill I was on was like kind of tucked away out of sight, uh, out of line of vision at the YMC behind a wall kind of thing. And that's the biggest reason why I never ran outside. I would have never, if run clubs were around then, which they weren't, only like obviously just running room and city park probably had their house run clubs going on 10 years ago, no other run clubs were around. I 110%, regardless of all the hype and excitement and welcoming environment stuff on social media, I wouldn't, I would never have attended a run club. And that's sad for me to say now, knowing these comfortable, inclusive, warm run clubs we've created, thinking that like that's what I was actually living then, and how can we change that on people who are who are now in those shoes that I live once kind of thing? So it's um it's an interesting thought that I usually have, or sometimes I have with some people, or runners kind of thing.
SPEAKER_03So is that something you intentionally when you started the Winnipeg Run Club? Was that something you were intentional about, knowing that your start was so, you know, you tucked yourself away on the treadmill at the YMCA so nobody would see you, and yet here you were wanting other people that may be in those same shoes to feel comfortable and included and welcomed. It was that something you intentionally went about to create.
SPEAKER_00Definitely a big part of it, not the sole reason, but definitely like a very strong foundational building block of how Winnipeg Run Club started. Like Winnipeg Run Club started off as a run club that was um, it still is um partnered with Lou Lemon here in Winnipeg, um, with the support of the staff and members and all that kind of stuff. But nonetheless, we took Winnipeg Run Club and built it up from the ground. Myself, my good bud Matt Matthew Emmett, who uh lives in Australia now. But nonetheless, um, the foundation and the building blocks of it were to make this inclusive, welcoming, warming environment. And I I think subconsciously that was always on my forefront of my mind going, I was once one of these people we're trying to get to come to our run club. How do we make it welcoming and warming and inviting for all abilities, not just people who run a certain pace or are are a quote unquote an elitist runner or that kind of thing. We want everyone to feel welcome. So that was definitely a part of it, I would say.
SPEAKER_02Well, and I think looking back on my own experience first moving into the city, what made me feel like I could even go there in the beginning was it was at that point well advertised, like on social media. There you I think you I can't remember if you had a Facebook, I think it was a Facebook page, a consistent location, consistent day, consistent time. So if you weren't ready to show up this Wednesday, you know you could always go next Wednesday, right? And the different pace group or the different distance groups, right? I think you at that point there was a five and a 10k distance group. But those, you know, I'm just thinking what is what are the hallmarks of a welcoming run club? And I think other than the leaders welcoming people in and having those conversations, I think those are some of the things is that you did right was consistency again and then giving people options, right? Of okay, I I know if I go and even if I normally run in the 10K group, I can choose the 5K group this week if I'm feeling tired or whatever, right? Absolutely. So yeah, good on you for starting that. So let's talk a little bit about the Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic run right now. You mentioned you were a paramedic.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_02You're not still a paramedic, not still at all, right?
SPEAKER_00No, no, not at all. I uh I happily, very happily resigned uh June 16th was my last official day.
SPEAKER_01Ooh, recently, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay, yeah, oh yeah, like recent, really, like uh four months ago, five months ago, and then July 1st uh when I took over um City Park Runner. So yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay, well, we're gonna get into that definitely in a few minutes. But tell us a little bit about the Winnipeg Fire Pomatic run. How did it start? Why did it start? Tell us about that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh man. So like this is like, well, if you're listening to this, this is a lot of who I am and why I am here today. So how it started was I was 23 years old, 22, 22, turning 23. Anyways, long story short, and I'll make it a long one. Um, that's okay. Was this right after I really found running? And so, really quick history. I ran Manitoba Half Marathon 137, then I was flipping through a running magazine. That October, I went to Toronto, did the Toronto waterfront in October, and I ran like a 135, and I was like, hey, this is awesome. I think things are getting faster, this is getting better for me. Then um, I have some family down in Carlsbadge, South California. There's a fantastic half marathon down there. So I I was signed up to go down in January to do the half marathon there. That year, my my grandfather had a stroke and he later passed away in uh in the early new year. So in my mind, I was like, okay, do I still go to California? Don't I go to California? And I was like, you know what, I'm gonna go there, I'll run in his memory, great. But I I went there and I was inspired a little bit, and I came back and was like, no, I want to do something greater. I want to raise some money for you know the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Keep in mind at this time I was only out the city for two years. I was 23 years old, 22, 23, and uh I went to my senior management, the chiefs of the department, and said, hey, the police have the police half marathon in May. Why don't we, like we, like the Winnipeg Firefair Medic Service, have an event like them? And I went to their um big executive meeting on a Wednesday and presented this PowerPoint presentation um and said, like, hey, like we can have an event, half marathon, 10k, 5k, and we can donate all the money to the Heart and Stroke Foundation. And at the time I was like, Yeah, we'll just do it this one year and uh and that'll be it, and we'll just donate the money to the Heart and Stroke and we'll figure out the rest kind of thing. And they're like they were on board fully. And I remember thinking, okay, like what do I have to do to figure this out? Because I had never planned like a birthday party in my life, I never planned a single event. And as you guys know, like uh there's so many different permits and rules and things you gotta figure out and certifications and etc. Here I am, this totally naive 23-year-old just trying to raise some money for the Hurt and Stroke Foundation whilst putting on a half marathon 10k, 5K. So, anyways, long story short, create a little committee, um, start getting some permits done and some advertisements done, and it's so funny to look back on like my social media stuff, and like the logo I created was like I Google search like fire emblem and then EMS emblem, and I like word clip them in half and I put them together, and then I like used word art and I put WFPS and they're like the the two symbols glued together, and then like used word clip art again to put like half marathon 10k, 5k and like a ribbon. Oh my god, it was horrendous! But anyways, it's just so funny to see like the organic growth of this event. So that year, that first year, we we raised $35,000 for Heart and Stroke Foundation, and we had 1600 runners, and the event was held on a Saturday, and I was like, in my mind, again, keep in mind I was like this naive young person. I was like, okay, great, what a good event. But then I was like, wait, you can't just like not do this again next year. So then I keep it, I I did not have a single intention on making this an annual thing. I was just gonna do it a one-year kind of thing, and that was it. But fast forward 10 years later, minus the storm year, minus two years of the pandemic. Um, I stay slave 10 years. You know, we've raised $450,000 for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Uh, we have annually 3,500 runners that come out now. I lead in uh a committee of 24 volunteer committee members.
SPEAKER_02Some of the most passionate ambassadors I've ever seen in running.
SPEAKER_00Oh man, I am so, so, so grateful for each and every single ambassador who have worn the colors for WFPS Run. They are truly like the people on the forefront of our event who are constantly popping up in Wellington Crescent to do our complimentary water stand. They're always popping up at other charity events and other stuff out in the community representing us, representing themselves. We just have this all-encompassing like family between the committee, the ambassadors, and we are seriously so I like am so deep down grateful for all of like the volunteers and all the runners that seriously just support us year after year after year. Because I'll tell you this right now, and this is maybe very transparent. If I knew how much work it was going to be now, 10 years ago when I started this event, I wouldn't have started this event. It's a lot of work, and any race director listening to this will tell you it's a lot of work, regardless if you have a hundred runners at your start line or you have 10,000 runners at your start line. You gotta pull the same permits, you gotta pull the same logistics, you gotta rally volunteers, rally runners, rally people. It's a big undertaking, and it's gotten to the point where our event is at that level. It's a pretty big event, and it is the frickin' funnest weekend of the entire year, and I look forward to it every year. And uh the last couple of years have obviously with pandemic have um you know kind of been the dark part of it. And then the year 36 hours before our start gun was to go off, um, we had to get pulled the permit because the uh the storm that happened.
SPEAKER_03That was in 2019. That was gonna be my first uh run of it. I think I was signed up for the 5k that year, and I was like so pumped to run a 5K, and then it was about a week before that this crazy storm happens around Thanksgiving in Winnipeg. So all the leaves are still in the trees, yeah, all this snow, heavy, all the trees broke. It was it was such a mess. And so that's what ended up canceling. So the the run was about a week later. And do you remember the day came and it was gorgeous?
SPEAKER_00Beautiful. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, I remember but you couldn't get the permit or something, it was like a safety issue, wasn't it? Well, and there were trees down, right?
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. Trees and power lines, and like they were like in code red for the province and bringing people from out of province to clean up the trees and cut them down. So it was all for a good reason. Now I look back on it, I I understand, but oh my gosh, just the most probably one of the most gut wrenching phone calls to receive. You have Bleachers set up, you have fencing set up, you have tables and chairs in your food tent, you have all your metals and shirts all ready to go. Yeah, people are currently picking up their race packages, like getting ready to race on a Sunday, on a Friday, they're picking up, and then to get a phone call to go, Yeah, um, either you make the decision or we're gonna do it for you. And I was like, I'm not making the decision. And they made it for us, the city of Winnipeg, and pulled their permit. And uh yeah, obviously now with high-instead looking back, that's definitely the smart play. But oh my goodness, I'll tell you, got wrenching thing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so that was 2019, yeah, and then the pandemic hit in 2020. I was signed up then too. I've never run the race, Jonathan.
SPEAKER_00Dang it. You're maybe you're the quote, you're the curse.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there you go. Don't put that on her. So and it didn't run in 2021 either, correct? This last year.
SPEAKER_00No, we did it, we did a virtual last year, but then this year was supposed to be our big 10-year anniversary celebration. We were gonna come out like guns blazing. But then obviously, with pandemic, we were so uncertain, and we didn't want to put ourselves in a predicament where we ordered a bunch of shirts and medals, cases were gonna maybe potentially go back up on the rise coming to the fall time, and then all of a sudden our permit gets pulled again, or all of a sudden we have to slash numbers, now we're out all this money, and we can't do the event, and then we can't keep people their money back. So I said, you know what? We want to be able to give all the participants their money back, and we did just recently, like we a couple weeks ago, we've been processing it all to get people their refunds, um, because we can make that educated decision not to spend the money on the medals and shirts knowing that we're not gonna have an event. So and we didn't want to burn like um year 10 on a virtual, so we we didn't um opt for a virtual this year because it's kind of overplayed, everyone's doing a virtual, so we're gonna go 20 in 2021, um, year 10 2.0 kind of thing, and just come out big next year kind of thing. So yeah.
SPEAKER_02So that's good to know though that the WFPS is not going anywhere, it's coming back.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah. 2022. It's awesome. Like, um, I mean, before we get into the whole me running their own and the run story now, like a lot of people, oh yeah, is the event still gonna happen, or like are you still gonna be director said absolutely I am going to, and this is just gonna put it on a whole nother level that the event and you runners have never seen before. Right. Because now having the store um behind it is just another monster puzzle piece to add to it. So, anyways, it's exciting.
SPEAKER_02I think there will be a lot of runners and listeners happy to hear that because you know, when you hear about a run that hasn't happened three years in a row, you wonder about the viability and the sustainability of that event. So it's really um good to hear. There's really nothing else in the fall for road running in Manitoba. So a lot of runners really look forward to this run.
SPEAKER_03So absolutely, yeah. I can't wait to do it in 2022 for the first time.
SPEAKER_00In 2021.
SPEAKER_02You can't you can't leave Winnipeg until you run this right. That's right. That's right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Okay, so here on the timeline, like you're you're absolutely a runner now. You've started the Winnipeg Run Club, you've started the WFPS. When did coaching come into the picture for you? Because I understand then it you took on a whole other um coaching arm to your your love of running. So talk to us about that.
SPEAKER_00So just um to add a whole nother thing to my plate. It was funny, it was about five. No, I did Iron Man five years ago. Okay, so about six years ago, my wife did six Iron Man six years ago. So we were in Arizona, and at that time I was coaching people totally as a hobby for free. They would bake me cookies or they would bring me a treat or whatever, random little kind of funny little thing. And I was doing it for free, um, more of a favor to help other people. Because at that time I was being coached by uh a professional coach for my Iron Man training, and I just started kind of helping people randomly, um, which was tied through sort of runners from run club and then people from in the community who would ask me to help them run and that kind of because they saw my little run journey I was on, and all of a sudden they thought that I knew what I was doing. Really, I didn't at the time. Maybe a different story now, but nonetheless, I started helping a few random people and a few random people, and what started off as a total hobby. I was coming home from Iron Man, Arizona in 2015, and I was I was coming back from there really inspired, a because I had just signed up then to do my Iron Man in 2016, but then also to like create like a like a run coaching thing in Winnipeg because really there was no other run coaching option in Winnipeg at all, and I was at already at the point I was helping like six, eight, ten people as a total volunteer thing, not being paid, not being whatever, just the total side gig. But anyway, I came um back from that trip. I don't know why. I always get really inspired when I go on trips because I I feel like a lot of people do, they they go out of their comfort zone or their element where their home comfort area is, and you start like dreaming and scheming kind of thing.
SPEAKER_02Not to mention all the endorphins that your body produces when you're racing, right?
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_02You come back on a total high, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right. So, anyways, coming back from this trip, and like literally, I remember in the airport, I was like creating my website, and I like was emailing my my guy who does all the stuff for logos and putting together like merchandise and all that kind of stuff. He he's a brainchild and he does so much great work. But anyways, he had created a logo for me, and like by the time I came back to Winnipeg, I had like a makeshift website going and um like a social media going. And when I do stuff in life, I do it at 110%, I don't do it at all. And like literally, like within a week of coming back from Arizona, I had like a little mini call it business going and pumped it out on social, and just now, six years later, yeah, I can say I've coached about 150 different runners, all different levels, all different abilities, all from different walks of life, from people who have never run a single mile, like where I once was in life, to people who have qualified for Boston numerous times and have run Boston numerous times and everything in between.
SPEAKER_03What is it that you love the most about uh coaching an athlete, coaching a new runner even to their first um race completion? Like what what is it that draws you to coaching?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I I I genuinely, genuinely, genuinely love, love, love, love nothing more than to see someone set a goal and just freaking go for it. That's what just gives me chills and like I get so excited, and I love seeing others succeed more than anything else. Like, truly, genuinely, I do. I'll I'll be so jacked up for other people to succeed before I succeed at something. And that's like what makes me so excited about coaching and helping others, and uh not even I not even the word coaching, helping and like assisting and whatever capacity that looks like, whether it's from a friend standpoint or whether it's from an official coaching standpoint or whatever that looks like, I just get so jacked up, like literally helping or trying to help others or assisting in any possible way.
SPEAKER_02I think that's part of when I put my physio hat on, what has kept me going over the years, is there's just really something special about watching other people improve and succeed and achieve their goals. So yeah, it's a different kind of high. Like it really is. It's amazing.
SPEAKER_03The way that I think a lot of us get into the sport is like your own, you know, improvements and stuff. So it's like you did your first half marathon and it was pretty great for a first half marathon, and then you improved on that, and that's really fun, and you keep chasing that for a while. But I think the very first time you ever coach somebody to their success, you're like, oh my gosh, I must do this again because it's almost more fun to share in somebody else's success than it is your own, if that makes any sense in the world. And I think that's what we're all talking about, right? And it's like, I want to help, I wanna, um, I want other people to feel what I'm feeling here. And and it's just so cool to to give back and be part of something bigger. And I mean, that is I'm gonna tell a fun little story here. That's sort of how our worlds collided, Jonathan, only about uh three weeks ago, if you can believe it. So we didn't meet until like three weeks ago, but it's really funny because we're I think a lot of listeners know that my husband's in the military and uh so we move a fair bit. And I always know that we're starting to like put down roots in a place when I start running into people that I know just out and about, you know. And uh I didn't know you on October 30th when I went into City Park Runners, but I knew who you were from social media. This is the the world we live in now, right? And so we go in and I recognized you, but I I felt as invisible as anybody. I did not know that you knew who I was. And I was in there with my husband and he was like trying stuff on or whatever. And you're like, hey, John, congratulations on Boston. And I was like, how does he know it? And then you said, Hey Carolyn, how's it going? Like you, you again back to making people feel included and making them feel welcome in your store. It was like, wow, okay, so he knows who we are. Like, how does he know who we are? So it sparks this conversation. And within what, five minutes, we'd gone down the road of all of our wildest running dreams to retreats and getting a coach in the store and and all kinds of things. And uh maybe I'll let you take it away from from here. What do you remember about that day three weeks ago uh when we officially met in person?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's so funny because that's exactly how it happened. And yeah, you're you're you're completely right, like total strangers. Like I and it's so funny. The world we live in is social media, right? Where I've seen you before in the store, but I've never ever said hi, but then I've seen you win these contests and come into the store, and then I think I I I follow you on social media. I honestly, but I remember then around that Boston time where your uh husband John, you you were coaching him and he wanted to run a sub three or two fifty-five, whatever, and and he did. I I I I I purposely seeked out his results because I saw on social media that that's what he wanted to do, and I think that's the freaking coolest thing when people put out these goals, and I love seeing like not to say like that's like the end all be gol be all if you crush these goals, but I was actually genuinely so interested in a complete stranger if he got a 255 in Boston because that's like freaking so impressive, right? Like the run at 255 is uh is just mind-boggling.
SPEAKER_02Not only is it impressive, but it's impressive to put it out on social media in advance, right? And like pretty audacious, right? And then he goes and does it like yeah, anyways. Sorry to interrupt you.
SPEAKER_00No, no, it's all good. So then, yeah, so you guys cruise around the store, and I was like, Oh, that's that's Carolyn Coffin, and it must be her husband. And then that's where I I was literally walking. I remember I was exact, I was walking towards the back stock room, and I remember looking over to my right, and they're you and you and John, or John and you were over by the the the jackets by the change room, and I just went, Hey, congrats in Boston, and I could tell you guys were so confused. And then I came back out of the stock room, and I think that's when you guys are standing with each other, and I was like, Hey, how's it going, Carolyn?
SPEAKER_03And you're like, I could just see how confused you were in your face, and then I'm like, wait, I know you, but I have no idea how you know me because I'm like again, like it doesn't go both ways.
SPEAKER_02Like we can't watch social media like you can. So, okay, we're talking about this store. Let's just back up a minute, let's talk about the store because it's a fairly new endeavor in your life with your wife, as far as I understand. Yeah, absolutely. So, first off, congratulations on becoming the newest owners of City Park Runners, which is an iconic running store uh in the heart of Winnipeg. So, tell us about it. Like, how did this happen? How did you become owners of City Park Runners?
SPEAKER_00Oh, it's a dream. It's um it's so funny. Um, to give you the short of the long was a few years back, um, we had an opportunity to buy the store from Eric, um Eric Olin, who's the previous owner. And we started in talks and negotiations and that kind of stuff, and we we got cold feet straight up, and we sort of pulled out of talks and negotiations, etc. And at that time of my life as a paramedic, I was like, oh man, I gotta start thinking about maybe a career change, etc. How can I like potentially tie all these passions of mine into a curated package in the sense of the run coaching, the race directing, the run club, the community stuff, etc., etc. So time goes by, time goes by, and time goes by four years later. Four years? Oh wow. Yeah, yeah. So four years went by, and then I was in the store as a customer in January of 2021, like this past January, and I I knew Eric was maybe talking with some other people about it again, about potentially selling and that kind of thing. And I said, I just threw out to them, hey, like what's the status of the store and you? And I know he he's been wanting to move out to Gatano where his um his long uh distance girlfriend is, etc. So nonetheless, I just threw it out there what's kind of going on with the store. And uh we kind of chatted and we said, that this time it's happening. Like I'm very serious this time, and I could tell uh I know Eric well enough just through business relationships I can uh over the last many years with WFPS run and and the store, I could tell he kind of had that like funny look, like kind of smirk on his face, like, oh yeah, I heard this before kind of thing. And I said, like, no, Eric, like I'm so serious this time. You know, okay, you know what? No problem. Let's meet next week or the week after. We'll go for a walk or coffee, whatever, because it's still the pandemic. I was it was called uh walk in the park because it was pandemic, so and uh, anyways, we started talking, and that was in February-ish, call it, and um accelerate February, March, April, May kind of thing. We got really deep into negotiations and chats and ideas and all that kind of stuff. And by the time we knew it, it was uh July 1st on the papers to uh to take over the store as the new owners. And uh yeah, it's it's really funny how it sort of worked out this time around. And uh it was it was it was a very um cordial um transfer, like very great terms. Um Eric and I talk consistently still through text and that kind of stuff. He's still a good mentor to me and uh asked if I need anything and and how he can help out if need be. He's having a great time out with his uh his girlfriend there and Gatineau and that. And uh yeah, I mean, I I'm I'm really um my wife and I were very excited to be the new owners of City Park Runners and that Eric um entrusted in us to to to take over um or to build on his legacy and build on the foundation that he had at City Park Runners.
SPEAKER_03How long did he have it before?
SPEAKER_0015 years.
SPEAKER_03Okay, and he did he start it? So it's 15 years old. He started it, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So 15 years, yeah. So literally it was 15 years old in September, that exact location.
SPEAKER_03Wow. Okay, so that was what four and a half months ago? Like this is still very, very recent and and new and exciting. So, like, yes, talk to us about what has been the most kind of exciting thing or surprising thing in the last four and a half months and the most challenging thing so far.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'll just interject there for a sec because I bought my physiotherapy practice when I was like 23. So it was a long time ago. But it's a mixed bag. I remember being the most excited I ever was in my life and the most terrified I ever was in my life. And there were certainly challenges, and there were such highs too. So talk to us about it all. Like you've you've been in it a few months now. What has it been like?
SPEAKER_00Honest to goodness, where I know I we made the right decision was when we were in the sh um in Chicago. Um, the same weekend you guys were in Boston. There were uh I was pacing with Team Mikey for the Chicago Marathon. And we were in Chicago, we were there for a couple days before the event, a couple days after, made a little trip out of it, had a great time, shopped, drank, whatever. Great times. I drank my waste pregnant, so he wasn't drinking.
SPEAKER_02But okay, so let's just pause you for a second. You bought a business with a three-year-old and another one on the way, too. So there's that whole layer of it as well. Anyways, go ahead.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I love juggling so many balls and have my plates full of the top. If for those who are listening who know me, that's exactly how I roll, right? So, um, anyway, so we were in Chicago, we're coming back from Chicago, and traditionally, most of the time when we come back from a trip, I I used to absolutely dread going back to the streets on the ambulance as a paramedic. I would go back and I would turn into a miserable person because I just truly wasn't living my best life. I wasn't my my happiest, I wasn't who I am and who you guys see right now, or listening to who I am right now. So when we were coming back from Chicago, I said to my wife in the air, I said, Robin, I'm actually just so excited right now to get back to the store tomorrow. Like, I'm so pumped. I said, This is like the greatest feeling in the entire world because this, for the first time in my life at 34 years old, I have true job love. And that really hit it home for me. That I said to her, we made the right decision. She still works with Lululemon in a high, higher up role um in management there with them across the country. But I'm the one who's in the store daily and doing the operational kind of stuff and these sort of front facing things. Um, and she has a lot of say in the background of the store, but nonetheless, I said, We made the right decision. This is the greatest feeling right now that I that I'm so excited to actually go back to work.
SPEAKER_02I can't think of a better way for all of your passions, like you say, to align.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and it's so it's so funny because for the longest time I was like dreaming and screaming, I call it, and like trying to think like how I could put all these things together under one roof and under streamlined sort of thing with all these different things that I'm up to between coaching and race directing, um, run clubbing, community stuff, all these other events I organize and all this stuff. Like, how can we just put it all together and make it a respectable career or uh or gig, you know? Um and uh that's why for me with this, it's like not only do we get to use these four walls called City Park Runners to sell kick-ass shoes, apparel, and innovative products and all that kind of stuff and provide a great service to the customers and the community. We also get to tie all these other fantastic streams through the store. And for me, since July 1st, it has been the most rewarding, most uh stressful, all in the same sentence. Yeah, and and you know what it is? It's it's it's it's a different stress though. I'm feeling like I still am excited every single night, every single morning to probably walk into those doors. You know, every morning I open up a store, we put out that sandwich bore sign that says open, and I we pitch that flag in the ground, and I like I stick that flag in the ground with like vengeance. And in terms I say vengeance, like I stick it in the ground with like extreme pride. Like we're open, and you know, like the shop's open. I am ready to serve you, we are ready to serve the community, kind of thing. It's a lot of fun, it is so fun, it is so fun to talk shop.
SPEAKER_03Hearing kind of the evolution of your story, it's like it just makes so much sense in retrospect, right? It's like, of course, you're gonna own a running store and put the run club and the the race and all of it together, right? It just like obviously, but you just had to have that journey to get there along the way. Like sometimes we're completely blind to it, right? It as we're going along. And then, you know, you look back, it's like, yes, that's exactly what we're gonna do. However, what I will say with my own little career pivots along the way, like I was a physiotherapist for the longest time, like 10, 12 years or something. And uh, and when I went off on my own, here I am every day, like doing the craziest things that I am have no training in. Like I'm building websites and like making business cards, like all this stuff that I just never did when I was a physiotherapist. So my question is is there anything kind of on the day-to-day where you're like, what am I doing? Like, I'm I have inventory, I have employees, like I don't know what I'm doing here.
SPEAKER_02Like, talk to us about business financial statements.
SPEAKER_03Like, what's yeah, the linker on the job.
SPEAKER_00For sure. I mean, it's not all like what you see on social media, like, oh, these are the coolest, newest shoes, and this is the coolest products we're carrying. Now we're carrying non alcoholic beer. Yeah, that's all like the fun, fun stuff we get to post, and you see on the front end. There's a lot of stressful pivot points in the store where um the whole supply chain uh right now, with trying to get inventory and ordering shoes from the big brands, and they're Stuck on boats across the sea in Vietnam because they closed the plants and all that kind of stuff. That is like a major, that's probably the most stressful part of owning a run shop is trying to find inventory. I'm on my computer every morning and every single night looking at all the ordering portals for all the major brands, trying to ground up whatever I call them scraps, whatever scrap sizes and shoes I can get. I mean they're brand new shoes. I shouldn't use the word scraps, but whatever inventory I can snag from Hoka or New Balance or Brooks or Socney or whatever, Ultra, like all these different brands, because it's really, really challenging. It's funny because we inherited the store at the most difficult time to literally own a store. From talking in previous conversation with Eric, there have never been moments like this where you go on to order shoes or try to get a size run of a particular model, a particular color, that you can't get it. Before a previous pandemic, you can go on there, oh yeah, no problem. We can order for you here next week or in a couple days if it's in the warehouse in Mississauga or whatever. Now, oh my goodness. But you know what? We're learning at the most difficult time, which is the best because now when hopefully things become quote unquote a little bit better with the supply chain demand and all that over the next year, potentially year and a half, well, then it's gonna be a total breeze because I've learned these things at the most difficult time.
SPEAKER_02So forged in fire, man.
SPEAKER_00That's literally it. You can survive now, absolutely, and it's funny, like I was telling you, uh Carolyn uh last week when we met, like right now I have to put all my orders in for fall 2022. Well, oh right, like a year in advance. A year in advance to secure my shipments for August, September, October to make sure that I have product coming in. If you don't and you miss these deadlines now, you're not getting your product until closer to Christmas time or later into the new year, next year 2022. And that's a total learning curve for me because I'm like, oh my god, like my head is swelling right now. I'm like, what do I order? How do I order? What colors? How do you pick sizes?
SPEAKER_03And and that's sort of what I'm talking about. You're a paramedic by training, right? Like you're you're not trained in any of this stuff, and you're learning like obviously you can figure it out, but I just oh I had to ask about the the those challenges, right? Because they're real and they're your daily headaches at the moment, probably, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I mean, like if that is where my biggest headaches are, then I am doing really well. We are doing really well because you know, I at the end of the day, we're we're still getting shoes, we're still selling shoes. Our store has been the busiest it has ever been in the history of the 15 years of existence. So we're doing something right.
SPEAKER_02Well, and you also have, like you just said, aligned alternate sources of revenue and different streams. Like, I'm not saying that you know WFPS is gonna pay our bills or that coach is gonna pay your bills, but let's just talk about that for a minute. I understand there's been a recent announcement of some partnerships amongst members or people who are on this podcast. Tell us about it, guys.
SPEAKER_00Well, it's funny. So just to go back to that conversation, we I don't think we even finished that when Carolyn and her husband were in the store. Um, so we talked, hey, congrats, your boss. Yeah, yeah, hey Carolyn, nice to see you. But yeah, oh you know who I am, great. And then literally we we started our conversation in the back of the store, um, back where the washroom and the staff room is, and then we literally like the store was so busy that day. It was so busy that you kept the care. Yeah, Carolyn kept on saying, like, oh yeah, don't worry, but we can talk after, like, I know you're busy, I'm like, oh no, it's okay, don't worry about it. Because I can kind of see like on my peripherals, like customers were being helped by my other staff members, so I didn't really have to go, but I could have. Anyways, it was probably any other person I would have like, yeah, you know what, just email me, call me, we'll talk later. I don't have time right now. But I was so entrenched in this conversation in the best ways possible because I just sensed and felt the stars aligned because I have been seeking further help with my run coaching business and how we can stream it through the store and how we can connect it to the store in a professional manner. So obviously, I know Carolyn's background with run coaching and what she's been doing out there in the community. And I was like, oh my gosh, this is just the meant-to-be conversation. So we were talking, we were talking from the back of the store, we went all the way up to the front of the store, did the transaction, like she uh John bought some stuff, I think, whatever he bought that day, and like did the transaction there. We're talking at the cash register, got off the cash register, went to the front door, but okay, we'll talk to you later. And then we continued talking. It was one of those things like, oh yeah, we'll talk to you later. And then, like, oh yeah, what about this? And then the conversation just didn't stop. We literally could have stood there for hours.
SPEAKER_03I know, and uh to the point that I DM'd you on Instagram after, and I was like, I am so sorry for taking up because it was really busy that day. I felt really bad. Oh my god, guys, just make the announcement.
SPEAKER_02Tell us what happened.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. So what happened was then we met literally like two days later, and and since then we've been in like um really deep conversations and in the best space possible, and we're announcing that Carolyn is the new head coach of City Park Run Coaching.
SPEAKER_03So excited. Yes, because I've been doing run coaching, like I didn't mention, we are gonna be here in Winnipeg for a while. This is what it all boils down to, but we have moved a fair bit in the last five years, and so my run coaching, it's like I coach people wherever we live. I meet people and then we move and then I retain those people. And so I have people all across Canada. Like my business is primarily online, but there's real value in being able to lay your eyes on a person and show up to a practice with somebody and be able to see them and and provide that kind of feedback and and just to be able to know that that person is in your city and you can meet up for events and and different things like that. So I have been sort of craving on my end putting down those roots and being able to, you know, see my athletes face to face sometimes, if if it all lines up. So that was just, I don't know, it was like a very I've told the story a few times to to people that I've been talking to, including you, Kim, where I'm I just tell the story I'm like, that was a crazy day. And it just it was very quick. And it was just like, what just happened? I think my life just took a turn, honestly.
SPEAKER_02But to put your words back in your own mouth, Carolyn, it just makes sense. Like, of course. This this just makes sense. And good on you, Jonathan, for recognizing the significance of the moment and that, you know, like Carolyn's there and I need to I need to be present right now. Like this is this is this is an important conversation to continue to have and not brush off. And those are when the most biggest things happen in our lives where we just have to pay attention and surrender to the moment. And here you guys are now. So I'm curious, like, is River City coaching like disappearing? Is it merging as is it now city park runners coaching, or like how is this all work?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so great question. So River City Run Coaching, which is what been my run coaching business for the last five or six years, six years, will be dissolving. And the athletes I had under River City Run Coaching are now under City Park Run Coaching under care uh head coach Carolyn Coffin. And um, moving forward, all run coaching will be done under City Park run coaching. I am so excited, like more than like you guys probably even know combined. In my mind, I know this is something I have to do to grow the run coaching part of it and to just offer a greater thing and offer something that I haven't been able to offer since taking over City Park Runners. My bandwidth has gone down to not a whole lot, and that's me being really honest and transparent. And I know bringing on Carolyn to the store, heading up the City Park Run coaching gig, this is going to open up, and I said this to her so many times, and she can attest to it. This is going to open up so many doors for her, for myself, and for the store. And I think it's just the biggest win-win-win across the board. Um, because all those things we were talking about in that like super quick, awesome conversation we had in the store that we continued on for now these last couple weeks about talking about uh uh run clinics and run retreats. And I said to her, This is just the very beginning of something so grand. It really, really is. Like if I look on a big map, it's a little pencil dot right now. This very beginning that we're in, I just see amazing big things because I think we're both um I probably use dreamers and schemers a lot in this podcast, you know, on like TSN where they have like a little counter in the corner for like when someone says a certain word or does a certain action so many times. I'm probably at 14, but I think we're on that same wavelength where like we're big thinkers and like look out because now this will give me and her the capacity and the store to just go all in 110 and make this thing so successful.
SPEAKER_02Well, congratulations to you both. I think this is amazing news.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Thank you. I literally have the biggest smile on my face thinking about it. It's so good.
SPEAKER_02You can hear it in your voice.
SPEAKER_03All right. So just bringing it back to your own running for a bit, do you have any goals that you want to float out there or any races that you have lined up for the remainder of this year or 2022 that you're excited about?
SPEAKER_00You know what? For this year, no. I mean, there's only a couple months left in the year, but next year uh I've been I've I've enlisted in um uh asking you for some coaching help. So I think uh you'll be my first client. Yeah, literally I'll be your first client. Yeah, exactly. Um you know what though, every coach needs a coach, and I have a coach, I agree. Yeah, no, literally. Um so, anyways, yeah. So uh I think definitely I want to uh fire it up again because I haven't really with the pandemic like everyone else, I haven't really had an opportunity to go for a goal race. There hasn't been much um to go for over the last couple years now, two, three years in a sense, so or two years for sure. I paced the Chicago Marathon, but that was just uh at 410 pace with the with the team I was there with. But uh a race for myself, I would say probably Fargo will be my um my goal race in mid mid-May there. And my my my dream is to uh to qualify for Boston.
SPEAKER_03So what is your BQ at the moment?
SPEAKER_00Low three. So I would need a three hour. I think it's three I'd be in the category 35 to 39 for when I actually would run Boston. So it goes to 305. So we need probably a three hour buffer, uh three hours.
SPEAKER_03Well, did you hear this year it's zero minutes and zero second buffer? They they let in everybody that applied.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's amazing.
SPEAKER_03First time since 2013.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's pretty damn good.
SPEAKER_03I don't know how long that will go on for, but I bet you uh people are pretty excited this year.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02So outside of running though, Jonathan, you have a like a baby on the way. And when is your second child going to be born?
SPEAKER_00Um, mid-April to late April, somewhere in there, that third week of April is um is the official due date. So it's gonna be a busy yeah, it's gonna be a very busy year for sure. But you know what? For those who know us, like myself and my wife, like we're both just like we go 110 miles an hour and bring on another child, bring on another thing, bring on this, like we just keep going forward and trucking, and just it almost like just makes us stronger and like makes us more like agile and like just I don't know.
SPEAKER_03You thrive when you've got more balls in the air, it sounds like.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, in a sense, in a sense for sure. I think that's exactly the case with us. So I I know that's not the case for everyone, but for us it's it's right up our alley.
SPEAKER_02So you know what I'm hearing in your voice though, too, is something I've been thinking a lot about lately. And for so many years, it was this work-life balance, work-life balance, right? And then I read the book The Passion Paradox. And in that book, it talks about there's no such thing for high achievers as balance. There are times in your life where you are decidedly out of balance, and that's necessary to achieve big things. You're gonna have to work like you're crazy, but you need to come back and recover, whatever. I like the term work-life harmony a whole lot better. Like when all of your passions are harmonizing, it's not work anymore, and your energy level exponentially increases. And you mentioned kind of off-handedly that you let your paramedic job go in June. And I'm wondering how much energy that's given you back, as in the ability to focus on just one thing now, like, or maybe two things your family and your your business, which has now encompassed all of your extracurricular activities, and now you're you're just harmonizing, like everything's vibrating on the same frequency. That's what I'm hearing in your voice.
SPEAKER_00You are 10,000 correct. And like you, you couldn't have said it any better. So, like, I'm not gonna like try to reiterate what you just said, but you nailed it. I don't feel the stress of owning my own business right now, or the stress of because this is all stuff that's passion and the stuff that I'm so driven to do, and I'm so excited to do. Truly, like that that actually is like what like gets me so excited is like seeing people come in. Like, we're there to offer them a service and provide the best customer service we can. And I I genuinely like love being a part of that, and that's why I'm so attached, like uh in so many ways to being in that store and wanting to be in that store, and it's not doesn't seem like work for me at all.
SPEAKER_02Oh wow, this I feel like pumped just talking to you right now. I'm like, it's been over an hour, and I feel like we could just keep going on forever, but I think we should transition into our rapid fire, Carolyn.
SPEAKER_03What do you think? Sounds good. First question always is do you have a favorite mantra?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, mine is uh never give up. The never give up one is something that like I just like drilled in my head when I first started running, just never give up, never give up, never give up. And I would literally repeat that to myself until I was sick of hearing my own voice. And like I just have stuck that with everything I did when I did my first Iron Man, when I did that 100 miles and the treadmill there in 24 hours. Like, I just run that through my head, I write it on my wrist, I I put it in places I can see it, and that's just something that I live by is just never give up, just keep grinding.
SPEAKER_02You definitely have not given up. So just what you preach in your own mind. Okay, so what is your current favorite place to run?
SPEAKER_00You know what? People are probably gonna say who are listening, this is so boring, but I love the Wellington Crescent stretch. Like I live a block off the Crescent, and my bread and butter route is uh forks to a Sinnovain Park Duck Pond back home. It's a beautiful 10-mile loop, and I can always bank on typically the streets being in the worst case, like in the winter time wet concrete, you know, kind of thing. Um, so I and I I just love I find that there's so much beauty in the big mature trees, the homes, the area. So for me, that's like legit my jam. It's probably the most boring for most other people, but I never get sick of that road kind of thing.
SPEAKER_02So no, I would agree with you. Actually, I'm I represent the trail runner in this duo that Caroline and I have, but that is my road run place. You know, when I used to work at Pan Am, I would just, you know, run the the two miles up to Wellington, and like you said, the big trees, the old houses, they decorate for all seasons. There's it's along the river, you can see glimpses of the river all along the way. Just really lovely place to run.
SPEAKER_03I actually ran there yesterday for my long run. So yes, I couldn't agree with you more, and just how they have that strip down the middle, too, and that's where you're running. So yeah, it's not on the sidewalk like on one side or the other. It just there's something about that feels very um fancy to me. And you always see people you know, yes, yes, yes, there were lots of people yesterday. Okay, uh, do you have a race on your bucket list?
SPEAKER_00Uh we touched base on it, but yeah, I would say I would say the Boston Marathon. And for me, that would be a pinnacle. That would be uh my dream. It's something I've attempted a just only a couple times to actually qualify for.
SPEAKER_03And how far off are you? Like, what is your marathon PB?
SPEAKER_00Um, 319, and that was like five, six years ago.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00And then I I I attempted to race, like actually go for it again one other time um in at the Hamilton marathon three years ago in my uh Road to Hope, and my a previous groin injury pulled up on me, and I had to bail out um from that attempt at around mile um 10.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, but sidebar story to that, that was awesome because then I was able to pace uh I was still able to finish, I did not want to quit. I was still able to pace my friend Stephanie Roborecki, who a lot of people know her Boston qualifier at that race, and she qualified um by like 40 seconds or something. And she said, like, yeah, if you weren't there like yelling at me, like keep going, like don't stop, she wouldn't have qualified. So she did. So, you know what? That was a great um uh whatever full circle thing with that.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, earlier you mentioned race directing. If you could just do that, I think you said race directing, or or maybe being ahead of the run club. If you could do that and that could be your income, that would be like a dream come true for me. It's pacing. Like if I could be a pace bunny, full-time pace bunny for people. I just think like that's my dream come true, right there. So fun. That's awesome. Pick your brain later about being a pace bunny in Chicago.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02All right, so number four is what is your favorite running book or movie?
SPEAKER_00I like that. I like that uh the movie where that chick runs the New York marathon.
SPEAKER_03Brittany runs a marathon. Brittany runs a marathon. That's so good. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I I I can like I really like I I'm not gonna lie, I possibly shed a tear in that movie. Um, I just thought it was so real and so good. Yeah, I mean, that was a freaking good movie. Very weird.
SPEAKER_03With your start to running, maybe there were like glimpses of her uh story that resonated, right? Totally, not knowing what to wear.
SPEAKER_00And yeah, I I literally think like that's where my my emotional and like my my attachment to that movie became was like, oh my god, like I actually that was me, but like not the New York Marathon and not her. But anyways, it was uh very relatable for sure, absolutely. Um, and then Patriots Day is a really great movie, too. I mean, oh yeah. Oh, those are just more modern day movies, like the one in the Boston Marathon bombing.
SPEAKER_03I mean, that was very powerful.
SPEAKER_00Uh but yeah, if I had to pick a movie, one of those two.
SPEAKER_03Okay. All right. Final question: Do you have a favorite post-run indulgence?
SPEAKER_00Oh god. Indulgence is like, I don't know, probably an understatement. I go ham after like a marathon or something like that. Like, here's like the menu I had after the Chicago marathon. Um, we had that day of, we went for Shake Shack and then some other good treats in the afternoon, then that evening. Um, like that was like a later lunch, but then I was like, oh, I'm still kind of hungry. So I crushed like $30 American worth of like Taco Bell, nothing fancy. But then the next day, we went out for like breakfast at this really great place. I literally ordered two full entrees and an appetizer for myself. And then for lunch, uh we went to Portillo's, like the Chicago hot dog place that's like world famous. Okay, and I crushed three hot dogs, onion rings, and a French fries and a big 24-ounce beer. And then that same night we went for deep dish pizza, uh, Chicago style, obviously, and I had like a whole small one to myself. So like I love to eat, yeah, and I always say I still have like a fat man stomach because I can eat with the best of them and I don't have an off switch, yeah. But indulgence, that's why I said indulgence is an understatement. I love to eat. I still have a hearty appetite. So um I love it.
SPEAKER_02This is the most unique answer we've had for your question yet. I love it, it's great.
SPEAKER_00Give you a whole rundown, solid 15,000 calorie replenishment.
SPEAKER_02You're eating like a marathon or like an ultrarunner. There you go. Like an ultrarunner, man.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Exactly.
SPEAKER_03Oh, this has been so fantastic. I knew we knew it would be, but um, thank you for everything you do for the running community here in Winnipeg. And we are so excited to see what you create with City Park Runners. I am honored and excited to be working alongside you. So I look forward to everything that's to come. So thank you for joining us tonight.
SPEAKER_00You are welcome. I really am thankful for you guys having me. This is um it's a big honor.